The Graham Shapiro Foundation, led by Visiting Professor Graham Shapiro, has announced pivotal funding to help launch the University of Westminster’s Self-Leadership Programme for Student Entrepreneurs.
The donation of £15,000 over three years is one part of a wider programme of activities the award-winning inventor is undertaking at the University following his appointment as a Visiting Professor in 2022.
As part of his Professorship, Graham provides guest lectures and workshops, judges Westminster Enterprise Network (WeNetwork)’s The Big Idea Competition, and will play a key role in delivering the Self-Leadership Programme.
The Self-Leadership Programme - which the Graham Shapiro Foundation is a founding member of - aims to provide student entrepreneurs with a set of tools to help them navigate their career journeys.
The programme focuses on showing students the importance of self-awareness and providing them with resources for being resilient, delivering vision and value, and reducing the risk of burn-out. It helps student entrepreneurs identify the factors that cause stress to peak, explores how resilience helps creativity and teaches students to monitor the effect their work is having on their health and fitness.
Speaking about the funding and the range of engagement activities he is involved with at the University, Graham Shapiro said: “I am delighted to play my part in creating a platform for the young leaders of tomorrow to thrive, grow and flourish. My modest contribution is to give them the opportunity to demonstrate their own distinctive flair and unique set of skills.
“To my mind, there is no greater, more fulfilling sense of satisfaction than to know that whatever I have done, may have made a difference; that’s really what my engagement with the University of Westminster actually means to me. The Graham Shapiro Foundation is honoured to help create this new Self-Leadership Programme.”
Jordan Scammell, Head of Development at the University of Westminster, said: “We are incredibly grateful to our friends at the Graham Shapiro Foundation for helping us to launch this important programme this academic year with this generous funding.
“With so much happening in the world right now, and the challenges this presents to young adults, programmes like this become increasingly important to build the resilience within our aspiring entrepreneurs, to ensure they are equipped with the toolkit they need to continue on their enterprise journey and achieve their dreams and ambitions. I look forward to seeing the programme launch and the impact it will make to our young entrepreneurs. Thank you to everyone at the Foundation for their support.”
The Self-Leadership Programme for Student Entrepreneurs is set to launch in late Spring 2023, with each cycle of the programme lasting between six months and a year. Student entrepreneurs will benefit from personalised support to aid their physical and mental wellbeing and individual sessions with members of the Centre for Resilience.
Donate to the University’s Self-Leadership Programme for Entrepreneurs.
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